We traveled to Seoul in late November/early December 2013 and had the opportunity to stay at the Holt guest house for a week. We had 4 people in our party, 2 adults (my husband and me) and our young children (ages ~6 and 4 1/2).

The Holt guest house was a great place to stay for us, and I would totally recommend it. The price was affordable. The location of the guest house is very convenient to many things including the Holt office which is located just around the corner, one block away. There are plenty of places close to the guest house to eat. There is a mall nearby that includes a McDonalds if you are wanting some western food. The same mall includes several other eateries ranging from fast food to nicer restaurants. Starbucks is just a short walk as is Paris Baguette. There is a 7-11 on the corner, just steps away, where you get get soda and other convenience store items. HomePlus, a large store similar to a Target or a small Walmart, is just a short walk away as well. The HomePlus includes a food court, full grocery store, household section, toys, etc. There is also easy access to the subway. The guest house has wifi which was easy to connect to and worked well for us both in terms of speed and stability.

The building where the guest house is houses Post Adoption Services, the Reception Center, Holt Travel Services, and the Guest House. As you enter the building, you will see an entry way with cabinets for your shoes. You take off your shoes there and put on slippers, leaving your shoes in the cabinet. They do not have child-size slippers, so if you have a younger child, you may wish to bring your own slippers for them. During the day and early evening, there is a guard on duty. There are currently two guards who rotate shifts. They are very kind and helpful. They do not speak English.

To get into the building, you simply open the door using the button on the right makes the door slide open. When it is after hours and the guard is not on duty, you can use enter a special code on the door’s keypad to get in. We never tried the keypad out as we were always back early enough that the guard was still on duty.

The room keys are located at the guard’s desk. You take the room key and go up to your room. When you leave to go someplace, you leave your room key at the desk with the guard.

Located on the 1st floor, in addition to the guard’s desk, is Holt Travel Services as well as the business center. There is an elevator leading up to the rooms as well as a stairwell.

There is a cafeteria in the basement where you can eat if you’d like to prepare your own meals. The cafeteria has dishes, a grill top, a combination microwave/toaster, coffee maker, stereo, etc. HomePlus is within easy walking distance, so you can get groceries there. We brought some reusable shopping bags with us to HomePlus. You can also buy plastic bags at HomePlus. Keep in mind that whatever you buy at HomePlus, you need to carry back to the room. We bought milk, juice, breakfast foods and snacks at HomePlus and would typically eat our breakfast in the cafeteria each morning. On occasion we would also treat ourselves to breakfast at Paris Baguette.

The laundry room is on the 5th floor of the guest house. It has a full-size washing machine. Basic instructions are written in English on the top of the machine. The washing machine cycle takes about an hour to run. There are drying racks available for use. We found that the rooms get fairly warm, warmer than the laundry room is kept, so we would do laundry in the early evening and then bring the clothes & a drying rack to our room. When placed in our room, the clothes would dry overnight.

We stayed in the “Family Room,” room 405. The family room is set up to accommodate 4 people. There are 3 beds, 2 singles and a queen-size bed (might be slightly smaller than a queen). The room is light and airy with windows on three sides. It is heated by floor radiators and cooled by an small A/C unit. It is very clean and nice.

As you enter the room, you walk through a small, short hallway. To the right there is a small room with a door. This small room has a single bed with a window.

As you continue into the room, there is another single bed on the right as well as a small refrigerator and a hot water pot.

Turning left, there is a small table with 2 chairs. To the right of the table is the bathroom which contains a shower, toilet and sink. It is wet bath style. Because it is wet bath style, the bathroom does get all wet when you shower. As such bath slippers are provided. The slippers are small, so if you have big feet (larger than men’s size 9), you may want to bring your own bath slippers to wear in the bathroom.

Walking past the bathroom and table, you enter the largest space which contains the largest of the 3 beds. The bed appears to be close to the size of a queen. In front of the bed is a low dresser on which the TV sits. Inside of the dresser you will find extra towels, a hairdryer, etc. There is also a large closet in this space.

The accommodations are clean and neat. The staff is friendly. The price was great. Though it is not a full-service hotel (i.e. no maid service or restaurant), it worked really well for us, and we would happily stay there again and recommend to others traveling to Korea.

7 Responses to Holt Guest House, “Family Room” (#405)

We are planning a trip to Korea this June and are thinking of staying in the guest house. We have 5 people in our family so I wondered how big the “family room” was. Do you think they have or would let us add a mattress to the floor for one of our kids? Thanks for the great post!

Thanks, Erinn. I recommend talking to them directly and asking. I don’t know if they have extra mattresses or not, but they may have a yo (Korean bedding) which would work for a child. You could also contact your US placing agency and inquire, and they might be able to ask Holt Korea on your behalf. The largest bed seems close to the size of a queen bed to me or just a hair smaller. The area by the large bed is where the TV is. The room doesn’t have a couch.